In the 1950's 30% of US employees were in manufacturing - almost 1 in 3 jobs. This country was a relative manufacturing super power, we were the world's richest and most productive country. In 1994 approximately 1 in 8 jobs were in manufacturing. In 2014 if the US government (Bureau of Labor Statistics) projections are accurate that figure will have slipped to 1 in 12 jobs.

The government is telling us in black and white that the policies they are enacting will decrease both absolute and relative manufacturing employment to levels below that of the 1950's - over 2 million below.

In less than 20 years since America put in place some of its most self-devastating policy decisions (NAFTA, WTO, CAFTA, etc.), this country will have almost completely converted from a self-sufficient sovereign state, capable of manufacturing what it needs to sustain and protect itself, to a country of servants  serfs, working at the behest of foreign employers or engaged in the sales, marketing, and distribution of foreign-made goods  working at their discretion, for wages they determine, and forced to pay their prices for needed goods. This is the definition of a servant.

A country that ends up producing little of value will have little to consume at home and little to trade abroad, and will have a low standard of living. The way this country was built was by developing world-leading industries and dominating the markets for products that we invented. Now we have conceded that we are instead going to exist by selling our assets and eliminate most of our ability to produce for ourselves. This would make any country extremely vulnerable.

From 1994-2004, manufacturing was the second fastest job-losing sector in our economy (second only to agricultural employment). From 2004-2014, the government predicts that most of the employment growth will come from retail, health care, leisure and hospitality, government jobs, and professional and business services.

This country needs salespeople, waiters, attorneys, doctors, and managers. But how could we have ever built a superpower country on those professions alone?

Many say that we are shipping jobs overseas because they are too low-paying or too rudimentary. Anyone who has worked in factory operating a million-dollar piece of equipment can tell you the satisfying difference from being forced to work in a restaurant as a waiter because of lack of alternatives. Why would we send factory jobs overseas to replace them with jobs in retail and hospitality? Factories sustain communities. Retail and hospitality enriches absentee corporations and shareholders. Offshore outsourcing strips us of technology, taxes, profits, and career opportunities. Why would we choose that path as manufacturing jobs pay much more on average than service jobs?

Some other countries, like Japan, pay wages as high as or higher than America because their manufacturing is capital and knowledge intensive and requires fewer workers per unit of output. In addition, other countries like China that pay wages as low as 1/10 of ours, also does not have the same cost of living as the US. Their goods cost a fraction of what they cost here in America; therefore it is not possible to compare the wages on an absolute basis.

Many people also say education is the key. They say that not enough Americans are being trained for engineering, science, or production occupations. There is no point in educating people when there are no jobs  when these industries are being systematically and predatorily destroyed by foreign subsidized competition producing and operating both externally and here in this country through insourcing.

We are living in a fools paradise, being propped up by foreign loans to our government and foreign subsidized consumption of our incredulous trade deficits which is approaching $800 billion ($1.6 million per minute) this year alone..

The net takeaway of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report is that if you expect to earn a decent living by producing a product  any product  in this next 10 years, you will have little opportunity to do that in this country.

It will sustain itself as it always has. By being at the forefront of technology, information and innovation, and by adapting as the world changes.

We cannot predict where the future growth will come from anymore than we could have predicted what the Internet would become in 1980. But we do know what kind of system will keep us competitive; and that is a system that is open and honest and free of government intrusion.

You want to be rich yourself? Figure out the next big thing and make that thing happen. Given the fact that you have free and open, instantaneous communication with just about anyone in the world, there are very few boundaries except those imposed by your own fears. I suggest you stop thinking about what may not be possible and focus on what is possible.

Every American economic pessimist in history was wrong. Don't join them.

If I were a young person thinking about a major, I would major in some technical field such as engineering or Biology, and minor in business. I would take my electives in introductory languages so that I had a working knowledge of Spanish and Arabic and Chinese.

We simply do not know what will be important in the future. That is what makes the present so exciting. If I were designing a curriculum, I'd make students take 120 one unit classes to graduate, as opposed to 40 3 unit classes.

The people who do the best in the future will be very adaptable, not particularly locked into any one way of thinking, and functionally skillful in a multitude of areas, both technical and cultural.

Point is, the majority of people are incapable of embarking on careers in science and technology. Most people just aren't smart enough (and God bless them for it, but that's another story). But they can be adept at working with their hands, which is just what nature designed the majority of people to do. This free-for-all economy ignores human nature as much as communism did, and will fail just as communism did.

Thank you! A voice of reason from Age of Reason!

62
posted on 04/18/2007 10:46:27 AM PDT
by AuntB
(" It takes more than walking across the border to be an American." Duncan Hunter)

Most of these things [regulations, unions] have been around since the industrial revolution and now all of a sudden they are the cause of off-shoring? I believe you should pay more attention to more recent events such as free trade agreements, Most Favored Nation status, WTO, etc.

As if the burdens on companies have remained static since the Industrial Revolution. What a silly notion.

Jobs you mentioned are hardly done my Americans even if they are in America.

That is the biggest load of BS ever shoved off onto the American people, with the exception of GW. Americans do those jobs and Americans will do those jobs. The fact is that our manufacturing jobs have gone away and with it a large part of our strength. The so called free traders, who want to call everyone who believes in keeping our jobs in the country a protectionist, are full of it and the facts and figures they throw out are shown to be the lies they are when you compare what we manufacture now and the volume we used to manufacture, plus the wages, on average, are lower than they were 30 years ago if you use real world dollars. Don't believe the free traders, Nafta and the other so called free trade agreements are raping America not helping her.

That should have read: Why does Toyota lead the world's automakers in profitability?

Several years ago I read article in which US business experts were warning that Toyota is over-investing in technology and equipment and looking too far into future. They were recommending more focus on short term profits and bottom line.

Well, this distant future is now.

67
posted on 04/18/2007 10:55:59 AM PDT
by A. Pole
(FReeper: "So trade did not hurt the Indians who sold Manhattan for $24 dollars worth of trinkets?")

The so called free traders, who want to call everyone who believes in keeping our jobs in the country a protectionist, are full of it and the facts and figures they throw out are shown to be the lies they are when you compare what we manufacture now and the volume we used to manufacture, plus the wages, on average, are lower than they were 30 years ago if you use real world dollars. Don't believe the free traders, Nafta and the other so called free trade agreements are raping America not helping her.

You nailed it. I call it "Conscience FREE trade".

69
posted on 04/18/2007 10:58:08 AM PDT
by AuntB
(" It takes more than walking across the border to be an American." Duncan Hunter)

The so called free traders, who want to call everyone who believes in keeping our jobs in the country a protectionist, are full of it and the facts and figures they throw out are shown to be the lies they are when you compare what we manufacture now and the volume we used to manufacture, plus the wages, on average, are lower than they were 30 years ago if you use real world dollars.

Proving yet again, that "so called" protectionists return to the same emotional garbage on thread after thread, like a dog returning to vomit.

Well said. Free trade is like electricity in the global economy. The more wealth moves and is spent, the more income generated by the same amount of money. I worry more about the fortitude and honor of the West. Why didn’t more people fight back at VT. I understand the shooter lined people up against the wall like NAZIs. Also, the British sailors did not show strength. Is this a problem for our younger generation?

teachers, postal workers, police, military, firemen, forest rangers, IRS agents...all govt employees and as long as Uncle Sam keeps heaping money and benefits on them, there will be money around....just not in my pocket....

the people that make the paychecks will also have to pay for the entire Federa/state/local govt entities....as well as carry SS....because no one else will have any money....

Thank you for posting this. A country with declining ability to manufacture essential goods, a country who depends on third world countries to supply those goods, a country who allows insane trade agreements to be passed, a country who gives the finger to the middle class who once sustained the country, and a country who is importing poverty, disease, ignorance and dependence, does not have a bright future.

We have greedy, ignorant politicians who are destroying our nation. We keep electing them because they're the only ones who have enough money to win an election.

This free-for-all economy ignores human nature as much as communism did, and will fail just as communism did.

The really sad thing is that its win-win for the Chi-Comms. I.e., the failure is being exploited by the communist government of China, and they are positioning themselves in some not-so-distant future to re-assert communism's ideological primacy...and will nationalize all the foreign investments, not to mention orchestrate an international isolation of the then-dependant U.S.

85
posted on 04/18/2007 12:06:18 PM PDT
by Paul Ross
(Ronald Reagan-1987:"We are always willing to be trade partners but never trade patsies.")

I said functionally skillful, not advanced. Knowing a lot about a little will not get you far anymore, IMHO. It is the person who knows a little about a lot who will do better. In a changing environment, the successful person will be the one who can understand the synthesis of different areas. Health care marketing, for example.

>>removing crippling regulations, unions, enviro BS that is driving wealth producting manufacturing offshore.<< >Most of these things have been around since the industrial revolution and now all of a sudden they are the cause of off-shoring? I believe you should pay more attention to more recent events such as free trade agreements, Most Favored Nation status, WTO, etc.<

Not to the extent, that they are now. Government is sticking their nose into more and more things and businesses. Freedom and competition is the way to go.

LOL, yes keep the presses rolling by all means. BTW I noticed that the pound is selling at over 2 bucks today. Hmmm, wonder if that has anything at all to do with off shoring production of wealth?

On my last trip to the UK (1999), the price of items in UK pounds was about the same as I paid in US dollars. That meant the UK was paying 63% more for the same goods. Assuming that pricing strategy hasn't changed, the Brits are paying 100% more i.e. 2X as much for the same goods. I'll be spending my vacation time in the U.S. where I can have fun for half the price.

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